Netanyahu's standing melts in ice-cream drama

Isabel Kershner

JERUSALEM: His foreign minister had to resign after being accused of fraud. He was sharply criticised for his government's handling of the case of Ben Zygier, who committed suicide in prison. And now this, which made front-page news in Israel last weekend: the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, stands accused of dipping into state coffers for an ice-cream budget of $US2700 ($2600) a year.

Pistachio, it was revealed by the proprietors of a gourmet ice-cream parlour a couple of blocks from the Prime Minister's official residence, is his favourite (presumably not made with the Iranian kind of nut). Mrs Netanyahu, they said, appears to prefer French vanilla.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said that this was an exorbitant expenditure that he found unacceptable.

Statement from Mr Netanyahu's office

In a country facing severe cuts in government spending after an election that focused largely on the struggling middle class, and with the Netanyahus' supposed taste for the high life already under scrutiny, news of the Prime Minister's weakness for artisanal pistachio ice-cream raised a national outcry.

The leader of the Labour Party, Shelly Yachimovich, summed it up as a Marie Antoinette moment and noted that Mr Netanyahu was the one who always spoke of cutting the fat.

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"If there's no bread, eat ice-cream," she wrote on her Facebook page, adding, "Shall we laugh or cry?"

The story was broken by a Hebrew financial newspaper and then made the front page of the weekend edition of a popular mainstream newspaper, Yediot Aharanot.

On Monday, the liberal Ha'aretz devoted an editorial to the larger issue of spending in the Prime Minister's residence, complaining of a "royalist culture that has taken root there during Netanyahu's regime".

Mr Netanyahu hurried to control the damage.

"From the moment that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became aware of the agreement his office had signed with the ice-cream parlour for supplying ice-cream for hosting at his official residence, he gave an instruction for it to be cancelled at once," officials at the Prime Minister's office said in a statement. "Prime Minister Netanyahu said that this was an exorbitant expenditure that he found unacceptable."

If the owners of the ice-cream shop, Metudela, were feeling any heat, they did not show it.

Orders from the Prime Minister's residence would come in about twice a month, said Hillel Farkash, a co-owner. One of the staff would phone to place the order and a security guard would pick it up.

Serena Kanfi, who is married to the other owner, Rafael Kanfi, said the Netanyahus would take three or four kilograms of ice-cream at a time if there were guests at the residence. A one-kilogram box costs a little less than $US20.

The Netanyahus also ordered a lot of low-fat sorbets and frozen yoghurt, especially in the summer, Ms Kanfi said. An annual budget of $US2700 would buy about 12 kilograms of ice-cream a month.

"It's not that much, if you include guests," Mr Farkash said, adding that the Netanyahus did not actually spend the full amount.

The proprietors say they have not received any orders from the Prime Minister's residence in the past few days.

But since the news erupted, local and foreign TV crews have beaten a path to Metudela and some consumers, curious to see what the fuss was about, have made the journey from the coast.

Ms Kanfi said she usually prepared one tub of pistachio ice-cream a day. On Sunday, she said, the customers polished off three.